DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 2/12/2026 in which claims 1-20 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/12/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Determining whether at least one symbol meets the BD/CCE budget defined based on at least two slots
Salah recites in [0023]; “A span is a set of consecutive symbols in a slot in which the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates. The UE supports PDCCH monitoring occasions in any symbol of a slot with minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots)
This instant application says the determining is based on at least two second time unit that have a time granularity equal to or greater than one slot; therefore, Salah meets the limitation because with broadest reasonable interpretation an eligible PDCCH monitoring occasion must have a minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots meaning if the minimum time separation is across slots, then the determining is based on at least two slots.
The table 200 for the BD/CCE budgets are based on slots/spans which means they are also based on at least two slots for eligible symbols for PDCCH monitoring occasions for the UEs PDCCH detection capability. Therefore the rejection to the claims is maintained.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-9, 12-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Salah et al. (US20210160002A1).
As to claims 1, 7, 15, and 20, Salah teaches a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring processing method, comprising: (abstract Various solutions for PDCCH monitoring capability determination in CA scenario with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications are described)
receiving, by a terminal, configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used to configure a target time domain location of PDCCH monitoring; and ([0024] A particular PDCCH monitoring configuration that meets the UE capability limitation may be configured if the span arrangement satisfies the gap separation for at least one (X, Y) in the UE reported candidate value set in every slot, including cross slot boundary. Therefore, the PDCCH monitoring configuration corresponding to monitoring span (X, Y)=(4,3) can be configured to the UE by the network node.)
determining, by the terminal, whether the target time domain location meets a PDCCH detection capability, ([0024] A particular PDCCH monitoring configuration that meets the UE capability limitation may be configured if the span arrangement satisfies the gap separation for at least one (X, Y) in the UE reported candidate value set in every slot, including cross slot boundary.)
wherein the target time domain location comprises at least one first time unit, the PDCCH detection capability comprises a blind detection (BD) budget restriction or a control channel element (CCE) budget restriction defined based on at least two second time units, a second time unit comprises N first time units, and N is an integer greater than 1; ([0023] The UE supports PDCCH monitoring occasions in any symbol of a slot with minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots [0025] The UE may be configured to determine the CCEs budgets and BDs budgets according to table 200 which is also defined in the 3GPP technical specification for NR.)
wherein a first time unit is a symbol, and the second time unit has a time granularity equal to or greater than one slot. ([0023] The UE supports PDCCH monitoring occasions in any symbol of a slot with minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots)
As to claims 2, 8, and 16, Salah teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining, by the terminal, whether the target time domain location meets a PDCCH detection capability, the method further comprises:
determining, by the terminal according to first target information, a time domain location of a first span based on the first time unit, wherein the time domain location of the first span is used to determine whether the target time domain location meets the PDCCH detection capability, and the first target information comprises the target time domain location. ([0024] Scenario 100 illustrates an example of span determination. The UE may report the spans it can support. For example, the UE may report the supported span (X, Y)={(7,3), (4,3)} to the network node. The network node may select at least one of them and configure the selected span to the UE. A particular PDCCH monitoring configuration that meets the UE capability limitation may be configured if the span arrangement satisfies the gap separation for at least one (X, Y) in the UE reported candidate value set in every slot, including cross slot boundary. For example, the network node may determine that span duration=max{maximum value of all CORESET durations, min of Y}=max{3,3}=3. The span arrangement does not satisfy the gap separation for (X, Y)=(7,3) and can satisfy the gap separation for (X, Y)=(4,3). Therefore, the PDCCH monitoring configuration corresponding to monitoring span (X, Y)=(4,3) can be configured to the UE by the network node.)
As to claims 4, 12, and 18, Salah teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the PDCCH detection capability comprises: that an interval between 1st first time units of any two consecutive first spans is greater than or equal to first preset duration. ([0023] The UE supports PDCCH monitoring occasions in any symbol of a slot with minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots)
As to claims 5, 13, and 19, Salah teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the first span meets at least one of the following: that the time domain location of the first span is located within one second time unit; or that each first time unit within the first span has a PDCCH monitoring configuration. ([0024] Scenario 100 illustrates an example of span determination. The UE may report the spans it can support. For example, the UE may report the supported span (X, Y)={(7,3), (4,3)} to the network node. The network node may select at least one of them and configure the selected span to the UE. A particular PDCCH monitoring configuration that meets the UE capability limitation may be configured if the span arrangement satisfies the gap separation for at least one (X, Y) in the UE reported candidate value set in every slot, including cross slot boundary. For example, the network node may determine that span duration=max{maximum value of all CORESET durations, min of Y}=max{3,3}=3. The span arrangement does not satisfy the gap separation for (X, Y)=(7,3) and can satisfy the gap separation for (X, Y)=(4,3). Therefore, the PDCCH monitoring configuration corresponding to monitoring span (X, Y)=(4,3) can be configured to the UE by the network node.)
As to claims 6, and 14, Salah teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the PDCCH detection capability comprises at least one of the following: that a first time unit having a PDCCH monitoring configuration is located at a first preset location of a second time unit in which the first time unit is located; or that a second time unit having the PDCCH monitoring configuration is located at a second preset location in every J second time units, and J is an integer greater than 1; wherein the second preset location comprises any one of the following: the first K second time units, wherein K is a positive integer less than or equal to J; the last K second time units; any consecutive K second time units; and any K second time units. ([0023] The UE supports PDCCH monitoring occasions in any symbol of a slot with minimum time separation of X symbols between the first symbol of two consecutive spans, including across slots. A UE capability for PDCCH monitoring per slot or per span on an active downlink (DL) bandwidth part (BWP) of a serving cell is defined by a maximum number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapped CCEs the UE can monitor per slot or per span, respectively, on the active DL BWP of the serving cell.)
As to claim 9, Salah teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the first target information further comprises a PDCCH monitoring capability parameter reported by the terminal. ([0024] Scenario 100 illustrates an example of span determination. The UE may report the spans it can support.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 10, 11, and 17 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/Elton Williams/Examiner, Art Unit 2465